There's kind of workaround for this. No thanks to Sky of course.
If you've got an Android tablet, you have two options. First, you can try "Live transcribe", which uses AI to do speech recognition to generate subtitles. It kind of works like CC on BBC, which is typed by someone live so it's a little bit behind what's being said. However, it's hardly perfect so the subtitles can be a bit zen at times. Works hands free at least, what you hear is (kind of) what you get.
The second option is "Subtitle Viewer", which downloads premade subtitles (from opensubtitles.org). These are similar to actual program subtitles so there's no problem understanding them. You can also go get your own subtitle files from e.g. addicted to subtitles if the automatic pick is not what you want. The problem here is that you have to tap on a subtitle line to get the playback going so you should hear at least well enough to time that. And it gets out of sync on ad breaks, even if it's just the program title screen without ads. So you have to get out of the couch regularly to get the subtitles back on track. In worst case the subtitle file is for US TV, which will slowly drift out of sync with the British TV since there's a bit of a difference in the speed.
So two choices there, one works automatically but can be a bit mystifying to follow. The other has (potentially) good quality subtitles but requires hands-on work to do it's thing.
For Apple users there's "Otter", which is similar to the "Live Transcript" but it's aimed more at automatically transcribing meetings or e.g. presentations. Also costs money but you get enough free minutes a month to decide if it's worth the cost or not.
Now the perfect solution is of course for Sky to flip the switch and include subtitles on UHD? Any year now? Before 2030?
